Brick Houses

Clement (while walking past a pile of random bricks that someone probably should have been using to build a house): "Sarah, do you have bricks in the U.S.?"

Me: "Yes, we do, but they are a little different because our soil and rock and all are different than yours." (...and... they don't smoosh into smithereens when someone kciks one really hard)

Clement: "What do you use them for ... houses??"

Me: "Yeah -- We use them for buildings. Some people use them for houses, but brick houses are really expensive in the U.S. In fact, some people will just build the front of their house with brick and the back sides with other material to make people THINK that their house is expensive."

Clement (laughing): "Sarah, I can't believe you said that. I thought only people in Africa would want people to think like that!"

Context: Clement is one of my troublemaker kids. He's really bright and has great language skills (which is why I hired him to be one of my interviewers) ... but I have to keep a really close eye on him to make sure he actually does his work!